Words, words which would tear The tender labyrinth of a maid's soft ear : More, more than ten Sclavonians scolding, more Than when winds in our ruin'd abbyes roar. Then sick with poetry, and possest with Muse Thou wast, and mad I hoped; but men which chuse Law practice for mere gain; bold soul repute Worse than imbrotheld strumpets prostitute. Now like an owl-like watchman he must walk, His hand still at a bill; now he must talk Idly, like prisoners, which whole months will

swear, That only suretyship hath brought them there ; And to every suitor lie in every thing, Like a king's favorite-or like a king. Like a wedge in a block, wring to the barre, Bearing like asses, and more shameless farre Than carted whores, lie to the grave judge; for Bastardy abounds not in the king's titles, nor Simony and sodomy in churchmen's lives, As these things do in him; by these he thrives. Shortly, as the sea, he'll compass all the land From Scots to Wight, from Mount to Dover strand:

Pierce the soft labyrinth of a lady's ear 50
With rhymes of this per cent. and that per year?
Or court a wife, spread out his wily parts,
Like nets or lime-twigs, for rich widows' hearts;
Call himself barrister to every wench,
And woo in language of the Pleas and Bench ? 60
Language, which Boreas might to Auster hold,
More rough than forty Germans when they scold.

Cursed be the wretch, so venal and so vain :
Paltry and proud, as drabs in Drury-lane.
'Tis such a bounty as was never known, 65
If Peter deigns to help you to your own:
What thanks, what praise, if Peter but supplies !
And what a solemn face, if he denies !
Grave, as when prisoners shake the head, and

swear 'Twas only suretyship that brought them there. 70 His office keeps your parchment fates intire; He starves with cold to save them from the fire; For you he walks the streets through rain or dust, For not in chariots Peter puts his trust; For you he sweats and labors at the laws; 75 Takes Gọd to witness he affects your cause; And lies to every lord, in every thing, Like a king's favorite-or like a king. These are the talents that adorn them all, From wicked Waters ev'n to godly Hall. 80 Not more of simony beneath black gowns, Not more of bastardy in heirs to crowns. In shillings and in pence at first they deal ; And steal so little, few perceive they steal; Till, like the sea, they compass all the land, 85 From Scots to Wight, from Mount to Dover strand :

And spying heirs melting with luxury,
Satan will not joy at their sins as he :
For (as a thrifty wench scrapes kitchen-stuffe,
And barrelling the droppings, and the snuffe
Of wasting candles, which in thirty year,
Reliquely kept, perchance buys wedding cheer)
Piecemeal he gets lands, and spends as much time
Wringing each acre, as maids pulling prime.
In parchment then, large as the fields, he draws
Assurances, big as gloss'd civil laws,
So huge, that men, in our times' forwardness,
Are fathers of the church for writing less.
These he writes not; nor for these written payes,
Therefore spares no length (as in those first dayes
When Luther was profest, he did desire
Short paternosters, saying as a fryar

And when rank widows purchase luscious nights,
Or when a duke to Jansen punts at White's,
Or city-heir in mortgage melts away;
Satan himself feels far less joy than they. 90
Piecemeal they win this acre first, then that, .
Glean on, and gather up the whole estate:
Then, strongly fencing ill-got wealth by law,
Indenture, covenants, articles, they draw,
Large as the fields themselves, and larger far 95
Than civil codes, with all their glosses, are ;
So vast, our new divines, we must confess,
Are fathers of the church for writing less.
But let them write for you, each rogue impairs
The deeds, and dexterously omits, ses heires : 100
No commentator can more slily pass
O’er a learn'd, unintelligible place;
Or, in quotation, shrewd divines leave out
Those words, that would against them clear the

doubt. So Luther thought the Paternoster long, 105 When doom'd to say his beads and even-song;

Each day his beads; but having left those laws,' Adds to Christ's prayer the power and glory

clause) But when he sells or changes land, he impaires The writings, and, unwatch'd, leaves out, ses

heires, As slily as any commenter goes by Hard words, or sense; or, in divinity, As controverters in vouch'd texts leave out Shrewd words, which might against them clear

the doubt. Where are these spread woods which cloathed

heretofore Those bought lands? not built, not burnt within

door. Where the old landlords' troops, and almes? In

halls Carthusian fasts and fulsome Bacchanals Equally I hate. Means blest. In rich men's

homes I bid kill some beasts, but no hecatombs ; None starve, none surfeit so. But, 0, we allow Good works as good, but out of fashion now, Like old rich wardrobes. But my words none

draws Within the vast reach of the huge statutes' jaws.